Walt Disney World makes Midway Mania available via Fastpass+ only

October 6, 2014, 11:49 AM ·
Walt Disney World today made its popular Toy Story Midway Mania ride available only via advance reservation. The test lasts through Thursday, and requires everyone who wants to go on the shoot-'em-up ride at Disney's Hollywood Studios to make an advance reservation through Disney's Fastpass+ system. A Disney spokesperson told the Orlando Sentinel that Disney is increasing the number of Fastpass+ reservations available for the ride, presumably to take over the capacity opened by the elimination of the stand-by queue.

Are you at Walt Disney World this week? What do you think about making Midway Mania — or any other highly popular attraction — available via advance reservation only?

Replies (48)

October 6, 2014 at 11:59 AM ·
I had a feeling this is where they wanted to go when they first announced Fastpass Plus, and this test just confirms it. I can see the benefit in eliminating bottlenecks at a few choice attractions, but in general I do not like it.

140.31.142.86

October 6, 2014 at 12:06 PM ·
So...if the standby line is the Fastpass+ line, isn't that just going to make you have an hour wait for a fastpass?

October 6, 2014 at 12:26 PM ·
It doesn't matter how long the line is, if guests are willing to wait in it, then they should be able. If guests are not waiting in line at TSM, then they will be waiting in another line somewhere else or clogging the open space within the park. The theoretical elimination of standby lines essentially reduces the effective capacity of the park. I think this is a horrible idea. It's even worse that TSM is a top Tier attraction, meaning if you reserve a FP+ for it, you cannot reserve one for Rock N' Rollercoaster until you've used up your 3 FP+ reservations for the day. If you had strategized to get to the park at rope drop to ride TSM through the standby line, and instead make a FP+ reservation later in the day for RNR, you're plans are now officially screwed.

If I were going to the park, and did not have the ability or desire to setup FastPass+ reservations, I would be pretty ticked off. Not everyone carries a smart phone, and not everyone has the savvy or desire to plan their theme park day to the nth degree. I hope this is just a "test", and is not something that turns into a trend or routine. People spend far too much money on their vacations to be forced into conforming to a system that they don't want or don't understand. I feel sorry for guests going to DHS this week. Hopefully things will be back to normal in 2 weeks, when I will be in Orlando for 11 days.

October 6, 2014 at 12:39 PM ·
Can someone explain what the theoretical benefit is supposed to be for this line system? Maybe if I understood the intent of this change better I would be less than 100% against the idea.

134.155.209.235

October 6, 2014 at 12:50 PM ·
Another artificial solution by Disney. If they truly wanted to make TSM less of a bottleneck they should add real-world ride capacity, either by enlarging TSM or building more quality attractions at DHS. Look at DCA: TSM is not even that popular in terms of wait times in Cali. And in Florida it's a top tier attraction. I think this speaks for itself...

97.78.100.115

October 6, 2014 at 12:56 PM ·
Fastpass+, in general, is a bad thing for theme park guests based on my trip to WDW and using it for the first time.

The problem I see no one mentioning is this: If I make, say, 4 reservations before I get there, I'm locked in and, essentially, can't decide which passes to get based on attendance/lines.

For example, one of the fastpasses we reserved was for Pooh. We figured that would be a longer wait than, say, Haunted Mansion. When we arrived, we found NO line for Pooh and an hour+ wait for the mansion (and passes for the mansion were gone). Basically we were screwed....we couldn't get a fastpass for the mansion because we had one for Pooh. We didn't even use our Pooh fast pass because we walked right on.

Horrible system that is good for Disney but bad for guests. This proves its only going to get worse. They're losing me more and more by the day.

October 6, 2014 at 1:25 PM ·
It's to take a larger number of guests out of the standby line and place them into the park in hopes that they will spend more money on food or merchandise. The number of riders per hour should actually increase just slightly since the ride will go from three separate loading lines down to a single loading line. It's honestly a great buisness move on Disney's behalf.

I disapprove of this, but this is most likely the future of theme parks. Expect more of this tech to creep into Universal and perhaps Six Flags parks.

93.209.37.171

October 6, 2014 at 1:46 PM ·
I want a vacation, for Christ´s sake, and if I have to plan everything in advance, then it´s simply not fun anymore. I´m so sick and tired of all this Mymagic+ stuff that, for the first time in a decade, I am not going to WDW this year.

October 6, 2014 at 2:05 PM ·
Waits are generally less onerous at Anaheim's Disneyland. Try the ride at California Adventure, who also has Soarin'. Both rides are usually under 1 hour (typically 45 minutes or less).

108.0.202.66

October 6, 2014 at 3:08 PM ·
How far in advance? Do I have to do this online or can I still get a Fastpass reservation at the kiosks when I get to the park?

October 6, 2014 at 3:14 PM ·
That's the big question. A bunch of TSMM FP+ slots came available today, but I don't know if Disney's making all the extra capacity for tomorrow through Thursday available all at once or holding some back each day for in-park reservations at the kiosks.

October 6, 2014 at 3:18 PM ·
This is ridiculous. As someone said earlier, why should people not be allowed to wait for a ride if they are willing to? This is like a bandaid on an open wound. Isn't it strange that TSM at DHS and Soarin at Epcot get hours long of a wait time yet at DCA they are not even the most popular thing in the park (and not even close....). Disney needs upstream solutions, and I do not know that they are willing to spend the money to do that. The tide is only turning just now into Universal's favor, and this short term solution over a long term problem just won't help to change that.

October 6, 2014 at 3:25 PM ·
This is terrible. I don't usually stay onsite at Disney, so there's no guarantee that I'll have a chance to reserve my spot. With all the hordes of guests who do stay onsite, I might not even have the chance to get a spot using FastPass+. I'm always at park openings at the crack of dawn and now I'm going to be told that I can't get on a ride with a minimal wait time? No thank you. I know some people are going to praise Disney for managing to get people out of lines and into shops, but this is a horrible idea and it should not survive the testing stage.

October 6, 2014 at 4:56 PM ·
I understand that this is a test just for this week (so far), but does anyone have a handle on how a guest who shows up at TSM without a FastPass+ reservation will be handled if that guest has a Disability Access Service (DAS) card? If the DAS guest is allowed access to the attraction, will all members of his party also be allowed entry? WDW should have some additional capacity to handle situations that run outside the designated norm, No? Thanks.

73.165.30.94

October 6, 2014 at 4:57 PM ·
I completely disagree with everyone here. I think there is some merit to this idea. Whether there is FP or FP+ or standby does not change the hourly capacity of the ride. The loading is happening (more or less) consistently throughout the day, from where the loading queue is fed.

For example, if the attraction can handle (hypothetically) 15k guest per day, changing the FP allocation isn't going to change the number of people who are able to ride in a day. It just changes where they wait. So they could assign half to FP and half to standby and half. Or they could assign all to FP. This system will allow the entire day's worth of riders to ride the attraction virtually without a wait. For a top tier attraction, I find that amazing. To have maximum capacity AND minimal wait? It's brilliant.

Now, where they could mess up is in designation of availability. It would best for them to hold many of the reservation slots and release them in chunks as the date approaches. This is more or less what they do now. It would be incredibly bad form if they released them all at the beginning of the reservation period like they do for restaurants. Then only the most vicious planners would get all the spots. It seems like they're going to save some for late planners or spur-of-the-moment or day-of people. Sure finding a slot requires some dedication but so does the current system of waiting in line for 2 hours or the previous fast pass system where you had to risk your life at rope drop.

206.74.245.236

October 6, 2014 at 5:03 PM ·
Question: If the only way you can ride this now is to reserve a fast pass.... will Disney be altering it's Tier system or allowing you that extra fast pass to not count against you? The biggest issue with this is you can only book it once and you can't book it with another attraction in the same Tier.

What if they started this with Rock n Roller Coaster...... then would people have to choose one attraction or the other for the day.... and what if you wanted to be able to ride the attraction twice in one day?

October 6, 2014 at 5:22 PM ·
I don't know how well it will go over especially at park open when unsuspecting guests fly over there to an empty queue and be denied entry due to not having a fastpass+. I just am one that never figured out how to use fastpass successfully and preferred when the lines were all standby and loading times were faster.

It would be brilliant if that was how FP+ worked. The problem is that guests with a FP+ reservation can show up at a ride any time within a 1 hour window. There's no guarantee that the flow of guests will be evenly spread out to ensure little to no wait or that every available seat will be filled. In fact reports from the park today showed TSM running with empty seats galore. Now, while that may be due to guests not knowing about the sudden policy change and not able to adapt yet, but there's far more likelihood under a FP+ only system that rides will not run at maximum capacity.

The other issue is that this policy essentially shuts out those who refuse or just don't want to bother with the FP+ system. I doubt there are many of those guests that read this site, but those people are out there, and it's completely unfair to force this system on guests who don't have the technical ability to understand the system, or simply just want to be spontaneous in their theme park visit. Disney could potentially alienate a huge segment of their fans by doing this.

The other problem that was identified by an earlier poster is that if the maximum capacity of an attraction is completely filled by FP+ reservations with no standby line, what happens if the ride breaks down? The FP+ reservation system would always need to maintain a small buffer of slots to allow for the potential ride breakdown to shift displaced guests later in the day. In other words, if you pre-reserve the ride at maximum capacity of slots and it breaks down, then you end up with some unhappy guests, but if you leave a buffer, than you can never run at maximum capacity without having a standby line.

Yet another issue with filling a ride's capacity with FP+ guests is that Disney would essentially be forcing guests to stay on site to have any chance of getting on the most popular rides. Even if a ride's full capacity is available for FP+, on-site guests have access to those reservation slots 60 days in advance, while all others have to wait until 30 days in advance. It's possible, unless FP+ slots are deliberately held back from on-site guests, that all available slots could be taken before non-onsite guests even have a chance to make FP+ reservations. This is just not a good way to treat people spending on average $70 or more just to walk through the gate. What's worse is that Disney sprung this test onto guests with no warning, and while it was done during a relatively slow time of the year, it's still upsetting to many many guests.

October 6, 2014 at 10:11 PM ·
I would be okay with this for Toy Story Midway Mania (and other headliners) if and only if:

1. The ride does not count as one of your three reservations and is an additional reservation.2. Reservations can only be made day of at the park, not months in advance.3. Once a reservation is used, it is possible to secure another for a re-ride if any remain available that day regardless of other Fastpass+ reservations.4. If the ride breaks down at any point during the day, all reservations are cancelled and the attraction goes stand-by only for the remainder of the day.5. The reservation only policy applies to at most one ride per park.

I am not 100% against reservation only, but treating a reservation only ride as just another Fastpass+ attraction is absolutely the wrong way to do it. Based on how the system is now, during busy times anyone who wants to ride Toy Story Midway Mania would have to forfeit a reservation at any other Tier 1 attraction AND stay on property in order to reserve before reservations run out. I would be very unhappy if Disney made one of a park's best rides an upcharge, and from this article it sounds like they are essentially doing that. Disney's made some poor decisions, but if this test becomes a permanent one it would probably make a top ten bad Disney decisions list.

October 6, 2014 at 10:21 PM ·
Yet another really stupid move by Disney. I just returned from a two-week trip to Walt Disney World and FastPass+ is absolutely ridiculous. It doesn't work half the time, and Guest Relations seemed to think that the best way to "fix" it was to delete the FastPasses that we had booked and reassigned new ones -- for different attractions and at different times (he said we were just "out of luck" for meeting Anna and Elsa and for the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train FastPasses that he deleted).

So now I'd have to go to Toy Story and pray that the FastPass that I booked will actually work, or I'm once again out of luck?

The sooner FastPass+ is gone, the better. It was a good idea on paper -- before my trip I'd been a fan of the system -- but now that I've used it, I can see that the system simply doesn't work. It was badly designed and badly programmed, and Guest Relations is either locked out of fixing the issues or the cast members just don't want to. No matter what they did, we'd keep getting locked out of our FastPass reservations. The whole FastPass+ system either needs a complete overhaul or Disney needs to give up on the idea entirely.

The big marketing push against people who didn't want to plan everything in advance was that FastPass+ gives you "more time to be spontaneous" -- but moves like this one with Toy Story (not to mention the "more time to spend in Guest Relations after getting yet another blue Mickey instead of green" reality of FastPass+) show that they were blatantly lying when they said that.

So yeah, count me among those who are absolutely against the idea of this. Disney has apparently completely abandoned the idea of guest service, and moves like this just reinforce the fact that Disney doesn't give a damn about the experience that their guests are receiving.

October 6, 2014 at 10:25 PM ·
Going to WDW is becoming a real pain in the a**. Sure there was always something to contend with when choosing this destination for your vacation. The crowds, heat, strollers, temper tantrums from children and adults alike, over priced souvenirs and torrential downpours in the blink of an eye. Still, it was always par for the course and it felt like a vacation despite all of the afore mentioned.

With the advent of the original Fast Pass, a system was in place that was useful and could be very helpful in making the most of your day at the parks if you did a little on the fly planning, but the day still felt like a spontaneous adventure through the parks. It was available to all and it's egalitarian approach to distribution made it a fair perk for all guests to use. Fast Pass + just feels like a cold, futuristic and oppressive way to go about herding guests from one area to another with out any real regard for their vacation experience. Guests are no longer guests, they're just numbers passing through the virtual turnstiles with wallets waiting to be emptied as they meander around the park waiting for their advance reservation times to arrive. Kudos to the accountaneer who lobbied for this efficient guest herding/tracking system coupled with the magic bands implementation, I'm sure spending will be way up on Turkey Legs and Glow With The Show Hats.

I was all for Next-Gen tech, even with the huge price tag attached to it, as long as it enhanced the guests experience. So far it's been nothing but an overpriced, underwhelming headache that's managed to slow down spending on other projects people actually care about, like attractions. I feel for the families who saved up for years to go to WDW and were turned away at TSMM because TDO can't help themselves when it comes to tinkering around with fast pass and stand by lines. I'm sure Walt would be ashamed and embarrassed to know children were turned away at one of his attractions by such spur of the moment nonsense.

October 6, 2014 at 11:24 PM ·
I'm really surprised by the timing of this test. This is a fairly busy time with the Food and Wine Festival in full swing, Halloween Party, and many school systems having fall break. I would think they would want to try this in a less crowded/active season.

October 7, 2014 at 5:12 AM ·
I wouldn't start to panic that this is "the way of the future" just yet. It's been widely reported that TSMM is getting a 3rd theatre as part of the work on Soundstage 1. Is it not likely that Disney will then use 1 theatre for FastPass+, then retain the other 2 as stand-by lines? That should improve availability of FP+, as well as lightening the wait times for stand-by guests?

FWIW, I just came back from a 2 week holiday, staying on site at Disney, and whilst I like some aspects of FP+, there was one major issue for me. During my day at DHS, RNRC was down for the first 5-6 hours. However, it appears that DHS are happy to honour FP+ reservations AT ANY TIME DURING THE DAY if any ride is down during your FP+ window. The result of this was that loads of people headed to the stand-by queue as soon as word got around that RNRC was back up, but so did the FP+ guests who had reservations between 9am and 1pm. The result was that only 5 (yes FIVE) of the 60 people they let through to the pre-show room at any given time, were from stand-by (and yes, I counted this myself!). This pushed the stand-by wait beyond the 2 hour mark.

It appears that Disney relies on people "reassigning" their FP+ reservations if a ride goes down, but with a "Tier 1" attraction, this just doesn't happen in practice.

October 7, 2014 at 12:15 PM ·
"I wouldn't start to panic that this is "the way of the future" just yet. It's been widely reported that TSMM is getting a 3rd theater as part of the work on Soundstage 1."

That would be fine, but the added ride capacity is at least 1-2 years away if not longer. The 3rd Soarin' theater hasn't even begun construction, and is not rumored to be ready until 2016 at the earliest. Other super-popular attractions (TestTrack, 7DMT, and Anna/Elsa) have no plans to increase existing capacity. Also, TSM currently only has one "theater" with 4 vehicle "tracks" (8 screens per scene). The proposed expansion would double existing capacity by taking over the adjacent sound stage that is currently used for rotating attractions promoting Disney movies.

I simply don't understand why Disney feels the need to mess with a good thing. Fastpass worked fine, and people generally liked it. The move to FP+ was a rocky one, but guests have begun to adapt to the system. However, both systems allowed guests to enjoy the park without using the system through the standby line.

With this move, Disney is essentially saying to its guests, "Use FP+ or don't expect to experience the most popular attractions". If that's the case, perhaps they would then sell admission tickets that don't include access to the FP+ system, which would essentially be a regression in Disney's approach to park access. It is quite possible that Disney plans to go back to the ticket system, where guests pay for tickets to specific attraction (origin of the term "E Ticket"), except the tickets are now FP+ reservations. Guests pay extra to have access to the most popular "E Ticket" attractions, which may eventually trickle down to access to essentially every attraction in the park. I thought the FP+ system was supposed to move the parks forward, not backwards.

66.68.124.141

October 7, 2014 at 9:16 AM ·
I think Disney should spend more time increasing the number of attractions at that park instead of tinkering with peoples movements and causing them to micromanage and rush around.

74.202.184.22

October 7, 2014 at 10:54 AM ·
Unlike the other here I'm all for it. I don't mind planing my day around having to be at a specific ride at a certain time, it makes it easier for me to enjoy the parks and concentrate on what I'm there for; having fun!

October 7, 2014 at 12:42 PM ·
If someone wants to wait in line for an hour or two, let them. I guess I won't be going to WDW anytime soon if they continue to roll this "test" out to other attractions. I'm not someone who likes to plan out my day 100%, so the more they move towards FP-Only attractions, the less likely I'll go to the park.

Yes, I get that the people waiting on a FP may be more likely to spend more money, but people like me don't. I'll spend time in a line for another attraction or just people watching.

69.154.60.121

October 7, 2014 at 2:57 PM ·
I tend to be one of the Disney apologists, but they really need to get a handle on crowd control. Just looking at the wait times yesterday, a Monday in early October when school is in session is proof. At 5 or so yesterday there was a 45 min. wait for Haunted Mansion while 20 min. for Harry Potter and the Forbidden journey. Certainly apples to oranges, but that just should not be. The Fast Pass Plus is extending wait times for attractions that traditionally did not have long waits, and it is only getting worse. I hate to say it, but they should go back to the old system for that reason alone. They also must, must make a fifth gate. That will add to crowds, but spreading things around might help.

24.160.105.227

October 7, 2014 at 3:29 PM ·
I really dislike this idea. I never minded waiting in the line for Toy Story Mania. In fact as I looked around nobody else seemed to mind either. Once I waited for almost 2 hours. The thing I dislike, is that you can't even reserve fastpass tickets within 2 weeks of going .The are always gone immediately when they come out. Then what about the people who don't know about fastpass plus and come for a visit, waiting for that ride, and cannot get on. Or the people who don't have computers. Please rethink this Disney!

October 7, 2014 at 3:54 PM ·
It is quite obvious that they need to ramp up the attractions count in the 3 non-Magic Kingdom parks. FP+ has proven to me that it works as long as it doesn't implode upon its own weight. EPCOT, DHS, and AK each have nearly twice as much attendance as California Adventure. Despite their high attendance, the ride count at each park is less than half as much as DCA. The math doesn't add up. Plus, some rides don't exactly alleviate the crowds due to neglect or outdateness.

If DHS can quickly fix The Great Movie Ride and add Star Wars land, fewer will care about Midway Mania.

If Epcot can replace Imagination and Energy Adventure, Soarin' would be in a better place.

If Animal Kingdom can replace Dinosaur with Indiana Jones Adventure, update Bug's 3-D, and have Avatar done already, the lines at Safari, Everest, and the Rapid ride would be much less congested.

208.54.90.223

October 7, 2014 at 5:53 PM ·
The problem with Disney's fast pass plus is that begins with the original fastpass situation. Which has been an issue since day one when It was introduced. Before they rolled it out, way back when, lines were really no longer than twenty minutes to about forty five minutes on the most popular attractions. Non E-tickets had ten minutes to about twenty minutes and shows you only had to wait for the next show to begin. That was on non peak and on peak things attractions waits were up by fifteen to thirty minutes. Which was really not that bad. But do to impatient guests and greedy Disney corporate, Disney saw a profit making opportunity. So fast pass was designed from the get go to not make guests lives easier and their day to go quicker. That is all a Ruse. The real purpose was to get complaining guest to spend money on merch and food. While making day guest who waited in long standby lines to not be able to do a park in a day. That way you would have to extend your trip to Disney instead of going anywhere else.

October 7, 2014 at 5:59 PM ·
I will be there next Wednesday so I can tell you what is going on.

Personally, I think this is an odd move. Then again, I have had a fastpass+ for this ride for the last few months...

209.44.133.160

October 7, 2014 at 6:40 PM ·
$1.5 billion spent on magic bands and my magic plus. If Disney had spent a fraction of that on the parks instead, guests would not need to wait in lines for 2 hours. Everybody could visit their favorite attractions when they felt like it and as often as they felt like it. A vacation is supposed to be spontaneous and fun. Disney is removing the spontaneity and killing the fun. I hope the $1.5 billion spent on the magic band surveillance stealth marketing system was worth it.

October 7, 2014 at 8:33 PM ·
I'm loving all the hate and "I'll never go again" that's going on here. Thanks for making more room for me.

174.58.207.140

October 8, 2014 at 7:17 AM ·
I made the mistake of going there to ride that particular ride Monday. I was really mad early in the afternoon, when I sought to obtain a fastpass for this attraction, and was told, "Sorry! We're all out for today!" Epic fail, Disney.

50.201.96.242

October 8, 2014 at 7:45 AM ·
I don't mind waiting in line, as long as everybody else is too.

October 8, 2014 at 8:31 AM ·
"Despite their high attendance, the ride count at each park is less than half as much as DCA."

Anon makes a great point here. At DHS, there are six (6) FP+-eligible attractions. At EPCOT, there are ten (10) (including Maelstrom). At DAK, there are seven (7). While over at MK, there are 22. Taking people out of line of TSM has near catastrophic ripple effects in the rest of the park (as I write this, the current standby time for ToT is 60 minutes at a time of year when the average pre-lunch wait was typically 20-30 minutes). The issue with performing this test at TSM, is DHS has the smallest number of attractions to take up the slack, especially with the recent closing of the backstage tour. If they wanted to see how the FP+-only system would work, it should have been done for 7DMT or Soarin', where those parks have many other attractions to spread out the displaced guests. I can see the merits of tweaking the system, but the way this is being testing is extremely frustrating to guests, many of whom are using FP+ for the first time, even those who take annual pilgrimages to WDW (full implementation of the system occurred in January).

I have my FP+ reservation for TSM in 3 weeks also, but who's to say that they're not going to run a similar test on another attraction the week that I'm there. Disney has not indicated any strategy to guests, who spend thousands of dollars and hours of time planning out their vacation. Tests like this not only annoy those who have taken the time to plan, but also now affect those who don't since a spontaneous guest cannot even walk up and stand in a line for the ride. If Disney really wants guests to plan out their stays through MyMagic+ as it appears, how do they expect guests to feel when they've developed a strategy to experience their favorite attractions only to have that be turned on its head by a spur of the moment Disney "test". Also, how can Disney say guests can experience the parks at their own pace, if they're now telling them they have to make a timed reservation for the park's must-see attraction. It would be one thing if the attraction were down, and I certainly applaud Disney for always being very up front with routine maintenance, but guests who expect to be able to ride a certain attraction in a certain way, and are now being prohibited just days before burning big bucks to walk through the gate. This move has taken many by surprise, even the most knowledgeable and frequent Disney visitors, and was never indicated by the parks as a future characteristic of the FP+ system.

October 8, 2014 at 8:27 AM ·
"Before they rolled it out, way back when, lines were really no longer than twenty minutes to about forty five minutes on the most popular attractions."

You obviously never went on a peak attendance day. I definitely recalling standing in 45-60+ minute lines for just about everything at EPCOT in the early-mid 90's before Disney rolled out the original FastPass system. TV shows (like the Simpsons) were notorious for making fun of the lines at WDW. Line lengths were a serious issue, and the original system gave guests the opportunity to essentially wait in 2 lines simultaneously. What has happened is that certain attractions that have high popularity and low capacity must keep the FP line moving, which is slowing the flow of standby guests onto the attraction. The issue is that Disney must continue to develop attractions to take the heat off the super-popular ones and/or increase the capacity of the slow-loaders. Instead of building something new (DHS hasn't had a truly new attraction in nearly a decade) or increasing the capacity of the uber-popular slow-loader (a second TSM ride system is rumored to be on the way), they are instead attempting to artificially limit demand by taking away the line and pushing guests to other attractions. This may work temporarily, but if this test continues (Anna and Elsa's "test" was supposed to be temporary too), guests will simply not bother going to DHS if they cannot land one of the coveted FP+ reservations for TSM.

72.37.244.188

October 8, 2014 at 8:42 AM ·
i have been in and around the industry for some time now and i see what Disney is trying to do here and it breaks down to two words - Traffic Control

Disney is doing what every Civil Eng has been trying to do for years when trying to design a better flowing traffic control - but i also see this going very wrong very quickly

Imagine a Toll authority telling there regular travels that if they schedule there travel time on their roadways they would give them a break on the overall cost - all would run smooth pending the majority of people on the road was following that system and in effect would drop the overall travel time for everyone including the non-scheduled users ---- HOWEVER one hick-up would utterly destroy the system and there would have to be penalty applied to the users who don't follow there time frame thus causing upset travels and major traffic jams --- now overlay that on a Disney park and imagine the chaos

Ultimately Disney is trying to make things more enjoyable for everyone and its going to tested and tweaked - i see a lot more test and data gathering for Disney park leaders before this ever become full blown

204.4.13.72

October 9, 2014 at 10:10 AM ·
Disney World is just really in a sad shape right now. The management seems to have no direction, band-aids left and right. Since I'm a local and have passes to both Disney and Universal, I actually feel stressed out going to Disney! I'm just going to spend my money at Universal...It seems they have their act together and are investing and building at fast pace. Disney may be the king right now, but just like in Game of Thrones---Kings can get an ax to the head of they lay around not doing anything for long. I just don't understand why they have let the Florida parks sink this low!?!

75.130.149.64

October 10, 2014 at 8:15 AM ·
I do not like it - my husband and I are very spontaneous, so planning every single move while on vacation just makes it less appealing. I do not want to think ahead and make a reservation for a ride let alone dining. I just want to go and enjoy myself, not be on a schedule for everything. I might feel differently when I get there.

64.12.116.206

October 10, 2014 at 9:43 AM ·
Was in Disney in September this fastpass system happened to us at Be My Guest for lunch and we couldn't get in. Did not think it was fair since I had no idea that they changed the system. I paid for my ticket that was to include all attractions and I had no problem waiting in line for lunch, as my daughter and I did on two separate days in January 2013. Was very disappointed that Disney is dening people access to attractions that they paid for and are willing to wait for.

97.84.35.34

October 10, 2014 at 10:07 AM ·
Its a fair idea but they should consider mixing the two having two lines and every other program for reserved guest and those that do not now about it. or every other day reserved, or selective days a week . And on reserved days a line for standby guest to replace those with reservations who do not show up on time. "Not there on time lose your spot inline." Thanks

70.215.74.82

October 10, 2014 at 3:14 PM ·
You can only make FP selections for one park one day. So there for why do you need a Park Hopper? If you can't go to another park and have a FP that you can use then there is no need for Park Hopper. It cost Disney nothing to give people the right to Park Hop. It costs a family of 5 around $300 to have a Park Hopper. And cost Disney nothing. I spoke with one of the employees that was in on some of the planning and he said everyone told them it wasn't a good Idea. So 45 days out you pick Test Track on the one day you can go to Epcot and it rains sorry about your luck The set up before was fine you walk up and get your FP for a couple of hours later. The Mouse only sees dollar signs. Walt Disney wouldn't be Happy with this plan.

October 12, 2014 at 6:47 AM ·
Terrible idea. Why deny the people who couldn't or didn't for whatever reason make a fast pass reservation the chance to ride this if they're willing to wait? And there are many reasons - most of which previous posters have covered - why they might not be able to make a reservation. How about enlarging the ride instead?